Sanitary disposable holder for oral hygiene devices



v Dec. 8, 1959 1 D. H. ELLIOTT Filed NOV. 5; 1957 SANITARY DISPOSABLE HOLDER FOR ORAL HYGIENE DEVICES FIG.

FlG.4

FlG.6

IRE m I INVENTOR o. H E LLIOTT ATTORNEY United States Patent SANITARY DISPOSABLE HOLDER FOR ORAL HYGIENE DEVICES Douglas H. Elliott, Casper, Wyo.

Application November 5, 1957, Serial No. 694,637

Claims. (Cl. 211-65) The present invention relates to supports and more particularly to a bracket and removable and disposable racks mounted therein particularly for supporting tooth brushes in a sanitary and hygenic manner in public places such as wash rooms, hotels or the like. This application is a continuation in part of my previous application Serial No. 620,509 filed November 5, 1956.

Heretofore, various types of tooth brush holders have been provided and such tooth brush holders were conventionally made of ceramic material or metal permanently fixed to the Wall. These permanent tooth brush holders frequently were left unwashed because of the difliculty of their removal so that there is support for the inadequacies of the prior tooth brush holders and to provide asanitary tooth brush holder whichwill be attractive in appearance and eflicient in use.

A further object is to provide a sanitary tooth brush support having disposable tooth brush contacting inserts.

Another object ofthe present invention is to provide an easily installed bracket which can be permanently applied to a wall and usable with removable articlesupporting racks. 1 a

Other and'further objects will be apparent as the description proceeds and upon reference to the accompanying drawing wherein: p p

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a fragment of a wall and wash basin of a bath room with the tooth brush holder of the present invention mounted on the wall;

Fig. 2, an enlarged elevation of the attaching bracket;

Fig. 3, a vertical section taken substantially on the line 3 -3 of the bracket shown in Fig. 2, with the disposable insert shown in dot-dash lines;

Fig. 4, a top plan view of the bracket shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5, a plan view of one of the removable and disposable tooth brush supporting racks or inserts for use with the bracket shown in Figs. 2 to 4, incl.; and

Fig. 6, a vertical section taken substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5 showing an insert in its flat condition before application to the bracket.

Briefly, the present invention comprises a bracket of substantial height, width and thickness adapted to be mounted on a wall by means of screws passing through apertures in the bracket or by an adhesive on one face of the bracket for more or less permanently securing the bracket to a wall. The other face of the body disposed outwardly from the wall is provided with a horizontallyextending arch-shaped groove open at its ends to the edges of the bracket. The body is shaped so the lower wall of the groove projects outwardly beyond the upper wall forming a protruding ledge. Elongated flexible inserts of stiff paper or other suitable material are adapted to have one edge of the insert placed on the protruding "ice ledge and then inserted into the groove by a person gripping the end portions of the insert, the other edge of the insert is provided with slots for receiving tooth brushes or the like and the curvature of the insert in the bracket provides for effectively strengthening the insert for adequate support for a tooth brush or the like. It will be noted that the groove extends downwardly from the outer face of the body toward the attaching or wall face thereof so that the force of gravity urges the insert into the groove.

Upon more detailed reference to the drawing, the tooth brush holder of the present invention comprises a bracket 10 having means to secure the bracket to a wall 11 such as a coating of adhesive 12 applied between the bracket 10 and the wall 11, and/or by suitable screw fastening means v13 for positively supporting the bracket in position. The bracket 10 includes a body of substantial length, width and thickness and is provided with an archshap'ed groove 14 extending across from one edge toward the other and opening to the outer face of the bracket and to the side edges thereof as clearly shown in the drawing, The lower wall 15' extends outwardly beyond the upper wall 16 of the groove to provide a protruding ledge or lip 17 on which one edge of the flexible insert may be supported so that the flexible insert may be curved to correspond with the curvature of the groove 14 whereupon the insert may be slid into the groove 14 until it contacts the bottom of the groove.

A flexible insert 18 suitable for the purpose of supportingtooth brushes is shown in Figs. 5 and 6, such insert is preferably formed of relatively stiff flexible paper or the like and is provided with a substantially smooth edge 19, the other edge is provided with slots, notches or openings 20, 20 therein of a width to receive the neck portion of the handle of a toothbrush 21 for supporting the tooth brush in a well-known manner as shown in Fig. 1. "It will be noted that the insert 18 is appreciably longer than the width of the bracket 10 and longer than the length of the arch-shaped groove 14 whereby the insert may be gripped by its end portions 22, 22 by a person and the central portion of the rear edge 19 of the insert placed on the protruding ledge or lip 17 and thereafter the person may bend the insert .18 so that the insert registers accurately with thegroove 14 and the insert is then slid intoiplace'until the edge 19 contacts the bottom of the groove 14 The curvature of the slot and the resiliency of the flexible insert serve to effectively and frictionally re tain the insert in an operative position. One or more tooth brushes 21 may be supported in the slots 20, 20.

It will be noted that the groove 14 is inclined downwardly from the outer face toward the attaching face of the bracket 10 whereby the force of gravity additionally assists in retaining the insert 18 in position. It will also be noted that the length of the groove 14 is somewhat greater than the distance between the outer edges of slots 20, 20 so that the curvature of the insert 18 in the slot extends beyond the tooth brush-receiving slots 20, 20 thereby further assuring effective support of the insert and tooth brushes therein even though the insert is made of relatively flexible and easily bendable material.

Although the invention has been disclosed particularly for tooth brushes, it will be apparent that other equipment may be supported by means of the present invention and it will be particularly noted that the inserts 18 may be readily removed and replaced by a new and unused insert to increase the attractiveness and the hygienic cleanliness of wash room facilities.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the draw- 3 ings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A tooth brush holder comprising a bracket for securement of one face thereof to a perpendicular wall surface, said bracket including a body of substantial height, width and thickness, said bracket being provided with a generally longitudinally extending arch-shaped groove opening outwardly away from the face toward the wall, the lower wall of said groove projecting outwardly beyond the upper wall of said groove. thereby providing a ledge on said lower wall protruding beyond the upper wall, an elongated flexible insert of sheet material for 1 temporary securement in the groove in said bracket, one edge of said flexible insert being adapted to be inserted into said groove and to assume an arcuate shape substantially that of the groove, said projecting ledge of said bottom wall of said slot assisting in the manipulation of said flexible insert, said flexible insert being of a length greater than the length of said groove whereby a person may grip the ends of said insert and place a midportion of said insert on the ledge and move said one edge of said insert into said groove whereby the resiliency of said insert and the shape of said groove will maintain said insert in position, said insert being provided with slots extending from the opposite edges of said insert, said slots being of a size and shape to receive tooth brushes without danger of the tooth brushes contacting the bracket.

2. A tooth brush holder comprising a bracket, means to secure said bracket to a wall with one surface toward said wall, said bracket including a body of substantial length, width and thickness, said bracket being p'rovided with an arch-shaped groove opening outwardly away from said wall and one wall of said groove projecting outwardly beyond the other wall of said groove thereby providing a protruding ledge, an elongated flexible insert for temporary securement to said bracket, one edge of said flexible insert being adapted to be inserted into said groove and to assume the arch shape of said groove, said protruding ledge of said one wall of said groove assisting in the manipulation of said flexible insert, said flexible insert being of a length greater than the length of said groove whereby a person may grip the ends of each insert and place a mid-portion of said one edge thereof on the ledge and move said one edge of said insert into said groove whereby the resiliency of said insert and the shape of said groove will maintain said insert in position, said insert being provided with at least one groove of a size and shape to receive a tooth brush without danger of the tooth brush contacting the bracket.

3. A bracket for attachment to a wall comprising a body of substantial height, width and thickness, means for attaching one face of said body to a wall, the other face of said body being provided with a generally horizontally extending arch-shaped groove extending inwardly and downwardly toward the face by which it is attached, said body having a portion adjacent the lower wall portion of said groove projecting outwardly beyond the convex portion of said slot thereby providing a ledge to assist inserting flexible sheets therein.

4. A holder for an oral hygiene device or the like comprising a bracket for attachment to an upright wall, said bracket having a curved outwardly opening groove in which the curve is restricted substantially to a single are disposed generally horizontally transversely of the same, and a flexible ledge forming insert capable of being bowed and inserted into said groove so that a portion is disposed outwardly of said bracket and with such portion provided with one or more apertures for the reception of an oral hygiene device.

5. The structure of claim 4 in which said groove is disposed at an angle with its inner edge lower than its outer edge.

6. The structure of claim 4 in which the lower of the opposed edges of the outwardly opening groove is disposed at a greater distance from the wall than the upper of such opposed edges.

7. The invention according to claim 4 in which the securing means is a layer of adhesive.

8. The invention according to claim 4 in which the securing means are fastener elements.

9. The invention according to claim 4 in which the flexible ledge-forming insert has notches in its edge.

10. The invention according to claim 4 in which the ledge-forming insert has openings inwardly of its marginal border.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,669,143 Pocock May 8, 1928 1,681,586 Kessler Aug. 21, 1928 1,752,272 Kandel Mar. 25, 1930 1,972,532 McMillan Sept. 4, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS 365,349 Great Britain Jam 21, 1932 

